Hello, Welcome to the last Tuesday of the month. It’s time for another Q&A. Today’s question comes from Clara, who writes: I’ve been learning indexing in my free time (and admittedly have plenty of it these days!) and would love some book recommendations to practice on — ideally titles that already have professional indexes so I can compare my work. I’ve heard that even between two skilled indexers, their results can differ by about 20–30%, which makes sense since indexing is as much an art...
10 days ago • 4 min read
Hello, I’ve been thinking recently about why I enjoy writing indexes. Put another way, what would I lose if I handed the task over to an AI tool? Counterintuitively, I enjoy indexing because it is difficult. Sure, there are plenty of days I complain about a chapter being too obtuse or I’m anxious because an index is taking longer to edit than I anticipated. But if writing an index were easy, I’d lose interest and want to do something else. I’ve been thinking of this in the context of a recent...
17 days ago • 4 min read
Hello, Indexing contains a strong subjective streak. For all of the rules and conventions that govern format and term selection, among other elements, there are multiple ways to write an index. Each indexer interprets the text differently, and each indexer has their go-to structures and methods. I’ve been thinking about the saying that two indexers can index the same book and write two very different indexes. Which is true. This was demonstrated during the panel moderated last year by Jolanta...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hello, How accurate does an index need to be? Repeating this out loud to myself, it sounds like a trick question. The value of an index is tied, in part, to its accuracy, right? Of course an index needs to be accurate. Considered another way, I don’t expect a human written index to be 100% accurate. Perhaps instead of “accurate,” better to say “correct.” Humans are fallible, including myself. I know, or at least suspect, that errors make their way into the indexes that I write. Clients will...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hello, Merry Christmas! I know Christmas can be stressful for many, between family, travel, sickness, holiday traditions, or work. Whatever this season means for you or has been, I hope you are able to find moments of rest amidst all the busyness and cheer. It is once again the last Tuesday of the month. Today’s question seems appropriate in anticipation of the New Year, as it is about beginning a freelance indexing career. The question is: I’m looking to get into the business of freelance...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hello, Welcome to this month’s Q&A. I have to admit I am enjoying these. You all are asking some great, practical questions, which are getting me to think. Today’s question comes from Reed, who asks, How do you manage the stress of lulls between projects? I'm still in my first couple of years and I usually end up with enough work, but sometimes there are weeks at a time where things are very slow. I am glad to hear you have enough work most of the time. I remember when I began freelancing. It...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hello, What is structure within an index and is it actually important? I’ve been thinking about this question over the last couple of weeks. There have been parallel discussions on the Indexer's Discussion Group (IDG) and Cindex Users email lists about AI and indexing, in response to Ben Vagle’s announcement of his latest AI indexing tool, Indexia. If you are not part of those email lists, you are welcome to join and go back to read. You may recall that Ben released a different AI indexing...
4 months ago • 5 min read
Hello, How do you know when an index is finished? I think this is an important question, and also a question that is difficult to answer. “Good enough” can be subjective. Time and space constraints may be factors, as well as skill level or knowledge of indexing best practices. What an indexer might nitpick at may be perfectly acceptable to an author or publisher. And yet sooner or later, if under contract, the index needs to be submitted. There is a point at which the index needs to be...
4 months ago • 4 min read
Hello, Welcome back to the third edition of the monthly Q&A, on the last Tuesday of every month day I catch up. My apologies. This was on my to-do list for yesterday, along with a whole lot of other things, and I clearly did not get through everything on my to-do list. Today’s question comes from Kimberly: I've been giving each heading a subheading right from the start, with the idea that it might be easier to delete unneeded ones than to go back and figure out what they should all be. Do you...
4 months ago • 3 min read